


On Edge and Midgar

by TwoCatsTailoring



Series: Meta Collection [8]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII
Genre: Edge - Freeform, Fanwork Research & Reference Guides, Gen, Locations, Meta Essay, Midgar, Nonfiction, archived from twocatstailoring blog, cities in ffvii
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-06
Updated: 2018-12-06
Packaged: 2019-09-13 01:14:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 985
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16882821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TwoCatsTailoring/pseuds/TwoCatsTailoring





	On Edge and Midgar

Okay, so place is really important to me in terms of writing. The Where is just as important as the Who and the What and the When. The Where can either open up or close off the options for what a character can be doing. You can't go for a swim in the middle of a dune-covered desert.

So in that vein, I'm forever trying to understand the city of Edge. I can make up a lot about other places based on the canon content, but Edge? Edge is the 'present day' and we get to see it twice. In Advent Children and in Dirge of Cerberus. In DoC though, it loses a lot of it's character though because of how we see it - at night, through the alleyways and barred passages.

Today, [brighteyedinfantryman](http://tmblr.co/mLThARCnaHqoUNJkt5kvJwA) (my partner is awkward situations) reblogged [this](http://brighteyedinfantryman.tumblr.com/post/86911008154/escape-reality-too-much-easy-to-make-that). That first picture got me scratching my head, so I went looking and grabbed this from the Netflix version of AC:C.

 

 

Now, I realize that Midgar is closer to the sea than the [maps](http://fc09.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2011/286/e/a/compilation_of_ff7_world_map_by_digitaleva-d4crqbm.png) indicate. You can see this in the [opening sequence](http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20140523172058/finalfantasy/images/7/72/FFVII_AC_Nanaki_Cubs.png) with Nanaki and the kits (realizing that in about 500 years time, the sea will progress much faster inland given that the glaciers in the north will probably experience a good bit of melting, once the Lifestream evens out and the Planet can really get down to the business of healing that huge scar from Jenova's fall. Compare it to the ice caps melting a lot and sea level going up.)

(What, forget that bit? It's okay. I did too until a few weeks ago when someone mentioned Icicle in the summer. Then I got to thinking about it. XD)

But as I've digressed wildly now I'll reel it back in. Midgar was a LOT closer to the ocean than the Original Game led us to believe. I know, I know. Diamond Weapon. But that still seemed like a LONG shit that the Sister Ray made. Or at least it did to me!

But then there's this that I found (source [here](http://vehementscythe1337.deviantart.com/art/Midgar-281671331).)

 

 

I encourage you to go look at it at the source so that you can zoom it out to full resolution. This is the cleanest image I've seen yet and I'm going to talk about some things that you just can't see in this small one. 

First of all, I've said before that there was a gap of barren land between Edge and the Midgar slums wall. I was wrong. that main road appears to lead right up the the slum wall which you can tell is broken. Also, along the slum wall, you can see a couple of other broken points and both seem to have roads leading from them. That would happen, given that Edge is built out of the salvaged pieces of the Midgar Ruins.

If you compare the two images above, you can also see that the ZackWolf and Buster Sword are on the opposite side of Midgar from Edge. Add in the opening sequence image of Nanaki and the kits, and Nanaki is a little more.... Well I have no idea what that cardinal direction on the map would be but he's more to the RIGHT of ZackWolf's location.

Okay, back to the Edge pic. Again. If you look out beyond the Sister Ray, you see ocean. Okay, nice to know, big old duh, but still I didn't think it was that close. What is even more interesting to me though is the opposite side of the image. The left side shows pretty clearly that Edge is a port city. That is no common river, either. Look at the scale of the boats. And if you accept that in Edge proper, all of the sets of square scaffolding like structures are the same size, you begin to get an idea of what we are dealing with in terms of the size and really, global importance, of the city of Edge.

Now, down at the very bottom of this image is where things begin to get telling. Very much so for several reasons. There is a structure that is surrounded by trees - relatively mature ones too by the looks of it - to the left, just inland. 

But also, you will notice that the ground is sectioned off, squarish sections. If you look carefully, over the whole of the bottom section of the picture, those sections actually lift Edge off the bare ground. You can even see arches leading to whatever is underneath. I'd love to hear some theories about that. I've got my own of course (controlled drainage, possibly locations for electrical/water lines, also, the bare ground looks like either clay or sand, neither is great for building on in this scale.)

To the right of the image, there's a patch of grass just where that freeway ends. It looks like they are paving over it, but I'm wondering if maybe they aren't leaving some green too - the right side of that section looks pretty finished and the left side still looks like it is being built. In the same area, a little farther up, there's a pool of some sort. Maybe a water treatment location or just a reservoir. There are a couple of others as well, then back again to the slum wall on the right side of Edge, you can see the stacks of either oil or coal plants, flames shooting out. 

All of these things make Edge a real place. Give people things to do and places to have business or jobs to be going to. Places to have shady deals and interesting sights to see. 

But what I think is the most important thing about this whole set of three images is this: Edge, in all of it's amazing glory, 500 years in the future will be no more, taken over by jungles that choke the Midgar Ruins.


End file.
